Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling a device using Bluetooth, that is, a short-distance technology, in a wireless communication system and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for controlling the operation of a device using a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) technology.
Discussion of the Related Art
Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that can wirelessly connect various types of devices and allows them to exchange data over short distances. To enable wireless communication between two devices using Bluetooth communication, a user has to perform the process of discovering Bluetooth devices to communicate with and making a connection request. As used herein, the term “device” refers to an appliance or equipment.
In this case, the user may discover a Bluetooth device according to a Bluetooth communication method intended to be used using the Bluetooth device, and subsequently perform a connection.
The Bluetooth communication method may be classified as a BR/EDR method and an LE method. The BR/EDR method may be termed Bluetooth Classic. The Bluetooth Classic method includes a Bluetooth technology led from Bluetooth 1.0 and a Bluetooth technology using an enhanced data rate (EDR) supported by Bluetooth 2.0 or a subsequent version.
A Bluetooth low energy (LE) technology applied, starting from Bluetooth 4.0, may stably provide information of hundreds of kilobytes (KB) at low power consumption. Such a Bluetooth low energy technology allows devices to exchange information with each other by utilizing an attribute protocol. The Bluetooth LE method may reduce energy consumption by reducing overhead of a header and simplifying an operation.
Among the Bluetooth devices, some products do not have a display or a user interface. Complexity of connection, management, control, and disconnection among various types of Bluetooth devices and Bluetooth device employing similar technologies has increased.
Bluetooth supports a high speed at relatively low power consumption and at relatively low cost. However, since a transmission distance thereof is 100 m at the maximum, and thus, Bluetooth is appropriately used within a limited space.